Bryant Jackson, our Head of Software Development, has been busy fielding questions about having a career in STEM!

As a volunteer with stemConnect, Bryant virtually spoke to 14 classes (more than 1,500 students) recently in Orange County, FL. He answered a ton of interesting questions, including one about neural networks!

Bryant also had an amazing time speaking on the Florida SouthWestern College STEM Panel with Kelly Sloan, coordinator of the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation Sea Turtle Program, and Pricilla Doyle, a forensic death investigator with the District 21 Medical Examiner’s Office. Bryant is shown meeting with a student after the STEM Day event.

Artificial intelligence was a hot topic on all campuses! Bryant spoke about his venture into AI and the technologies movement toward the Internet of things.

Are you looking for an Hour of Code volunteer or a technology speaker?
Please contact Stickboy Creative at 239-206-1193!

The community is invited to the National STEM Day Panel at FSW at 12:30 p.m. Nov. 8!
Reema Bhatia, managing partner at Stickboy Creative and Vectra Digital, will be one of three dynamic panelists.
We hope to see you there!

Get your questions ready!
Our founder Reema Bhatia is looking forward to being a part of the Bonita Springs Young Professionals’ CEO Panel Sept. 19!
Reema will share her story of how she started her business, the struggles she faced, and what she has learned along the way.
Reema will join Blake Gratton, owner of JellyTank, and Rochelle Graham-Campbell, co-founder of Alikay Naturals.

October is National Women’s Small Business Month, and we sat down with our founder, Reema Bhatia, to get her insight on what makes a successful business owner.

While speaking with Reema, we were able to learn about what makes Stickboy Creative and Vectra Digital stand out from the rest.

She provided valuable advice to those interested in starting their own business based on her own experience.

Check it out:

What do you want people to know about Stickboy and Vectra?

The one thing that I would like people to know about Stickboy and Vectra is the company culture that we have and the spirit of brotherhood and teamsmanship that we have here. I think that when clients work with us they get to experience that and enjoy it, and they become a part of our team. For that reason, we’re still working with clients that we were working with 10 years ago. I think that’s something that is quite unique to us.

What are your biggest accomplishments since starting the business?

I think one of the things that are very exciting to the whole team is the concept of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning on the Stickboy side. Also, all of the wonderful things that we’re doing with for Vectra Digital. We’re working with large national franchise chains and I can’t wait to get the word in the community about what Vectra is doing, it’s very exciting.

Have you faced any obstacles as a female entrepreneur?

That’s an interesting question. I don’t really know that there were any obstacles that I’ve faced just because I’m female. I think that in hindsight if anything it actually helped because it helped me stand out of the crowd. People want to help and see you succeed so I think that I got a lot of help along the way. If there were any disadvantages to being a female entrepreneur, I didn’t really dwell on it. I think that ignorance is bliss in this case.

Women businesses are growing, how do you keep it fresh and stay ahead of the game?

We have a very academic approach to things here. We’re always researching the latest technologies and we’re always investing in them so that when we bring it to our clients we’re already fluent in them. For Vectra, we’re always researching the latest digital strategies out there and we’re always experimenting to see what works and what doesn’t so that our clients can get the best outcome possible.

How do you think company culture impacts a business?

I think company culture defines everything about a business from the profit margin to the scalability and life of the business. People are the vein of any company so if you have good people, you’re empowering them and you have a good culture – your company is going to last.

What makes Stickboy and Vectra different?

I think our relationships with the clients makes us very unique. The faith that they have in us after working with us is not something that you can get with a lot of vendors and partners that you work with. If we make mistakes like all humans do, we own up to it and we try to correct it the best way that we can.

Stickboy Creative was recently recognized on the 2017 Grow Florida Companies to Watch List. What does that mean to you?

I think it makes me feel very proud of the team because it’s a validation of all of the hard work that everyone puts in. I know that our team members are more connected to each other than any other workplace that I’ve seen. It makes me very proud of the network that I’ve built and the support system that we’ve housed. It’s a confirmation that yes, we’re doing something right.

What advice would you give to women who want to become a business owner?

Get a mentor that guides you and believes in you even when you don’t believe in yourself. It’s important that the person that you select has been in your position so that you can learn what you should and should not be doing so that you can make the wisest business decisions possible.

Congratulations on your success, Reema!

The future for Stickboy Creative and Vectra Digital is bright, and we can’t wait to make big things happen in the coming months.

Matt was selected from a field of nearly 170 nominations. The diverse and inspiring group hails from a variety of fields, such as medical, finance, real estate and development, nonprofit, law, public service and the arts, and includes many entrepreneurs.

The judges’ panel weighs professional achievements, volunteerism and other recognition, as noted by the candidates’ nominators.

On any given weekday, you can find Matt serving our clientele with sincere devotion. After hours, Matt serves on the board of the SWFL Regional Technology Partnership, has volunteered at Big Brothers of SWFL, and enjoys traveling, shooting hoops and spending time with his family and friends.

I sat down with Matt to learn more about how he became the successful entrepreneur he is today.

Here’s what he had to say:

Name the most important lesson or lessons you have learned in your career.

“The most important lesson I have learned in my career is how crucial it is to focus on what your strengths are and focus on growing those. Figuring out your strengths and weaknesses early on will save you time and allow for you to grow in the areas that will benefit you the most.”

What advice would you give to someone just beginning his or her career?

“Get several mentors – people that are where you want to be someday. Ask questions and learn from them as much as you can. Don’t be afraid to ask anybody for advice no matter how big they may seem. Most people are willing to help as long as it’s genuine.”

How would you describe your approach to business/your profession?

“Always do the right thing, no matter what the situation may be. Always be honest and always do the right thing for your employees, customers, or whomever you may be doing business with. Your reputation is everything. My parents and my mentor instilled this in me and I live my life by it.”

Name a major challenge you have had to overcome or problem you have solved.

“One major challenge that I’ve faced throughout my career stems from hiring the right kind of people. Early on, we would hire for skills and not worry so much about the candidate’s personality. We found that going about the hiring process the opposite way is a much better approach because as long as the employee has the right attitude and is eager to grow, they can learn the skills to perform the job correctly. If you have a great team member, keep an eye out for what position they would be best suited and don’t be afraid to try them in different roles that they can grow and thrive in.”

Congratulations on being recognized for your achievements, hard work and dedication, Matt!

The Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only organization comprised of elite CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Members are hand-selected by the Council’s selection committee, and we are honored to have been one of the chosen ones!

One of the really awesome features that come with being a member of the Forbes Technology Council is the online community that it generates. With access to so many valuable resources shared across global perspectives and an online space to generate discussion, there are infinite possibilities for ideas to be born!

Having access to this community will allow us to get exposure to the latest and newest thinking on a variety of topics, and we can use that to grow with our clients.

Members of the Forbes Technology Council can share their insight into whichever tech topics they wish to discuss!

Our talented founder, Reema, has written an article all about Machine Learning and how it’s changing our modern technology world.

Our very own founder here at Stickboy Creative, Reema Bhatia, has completed the CIO Academy at the University of Oxford in England!

While attending the prestigious technology program, Reema (who is also the CTO of Jet’s Pizza and founder of Vectra Digital) acquired invaluable skills that she plans on implementing into her clients’ IT and digital marketing strategies.

At Oxford, she fine tuned her knowledge and insight into how companies can compete in the digital environment as well as digital strategy and maximizing use of The Cloud.

“Being a CIO today requires me to participate in boardrooms and to be able to bridge the gap between business and technology, ” explained Bhatia, “I believe it is my role to initiate and lead digital transformations. To this end, all my technology strategies have the cloud, mobility and big data as the main pillars”.

(That’s her!)

The CIO Academy at Oxford is exceptionally unique due to the combination of world-leading faculty, cutting-edge research and the shared experiences of a truly global, highest caliber peer group!

Congratulations to our fearless leader and global IT expert! We can’t wait to see the amazing things you will accomplish in the future!

Our CEO Matt Bernhardt is also the CEO of Vectra. When we asked him what his thoughts were on launching the new digital marketing studio, he said:
“The foundation of our company is data-driven decisions. We looked at the digital marketing landscape and saw that local companies were not getting quality marketing with data to back up performance and decisions. Being a team of developers and data architects, we knew we could bring a fresh and exciting way of thinking to the industry. We are currently employing various big data analytics and machine learning algorithms to bring unprecedented ROI to our clients’ marketing budgets.”

One of the really cool things about Vectra Digital is that the company implements effective digital marketing strategies so clients can focus on building their businesses. The team’s process is results and numbers driven so every dollar spent has data that justifies it. Vectra Digital has successfully increased brand awareness, online visibility and generated leads for numerous differentiating enterprise and franchise companies.

Vectra Digital is led by Emmy Award winning digital strategist and design expert Harrison Ambs. Harrison leads the design team at Vectra to provide clients with sincere and quick customer service and has produced award-winning work with clients such as Golf Channel, CBS and NBC, Al Jazeera, Powerball, Capital One and more.

Stickboy Creative has been selected from more than 500 nominees for Florida Companies to WatchSM, a statewide program managed by economic development group GrowFL, in association with the Edward Lowe Foundation. We are among 50 statewide companies expected to see significant growth over the next several years!

GrowFL considers the following factors in determining which companies are worth watching:

Strong ManagementTeam

CompetitiveMarket Position

StrongCommunityInvolvement

Innovativenessof the Product or Service

Responseto Adversity

Current and PastFinancial Reports

Increase in Salesand/or Unit Volume

Growth inNumber of Employees

Impactof the Business in the Job Market

We are honored to have been recognized for our hard work and are ecstatic to achieve “next level growth” in the years to come!

“These stand-out companies are all led by entrepreneurs, and have demonstrated their capacity and intent to grow,” said Dr. Tom O’Neal, executive director of the Florida Economic Gardening Institute and associate vice president for the University of Central Florida’s Office of Research and Commercialization. “They also all have critical intellectual property or a niche position that gives them a competitive edge in their markets,” he said.

“We are thrilled that our team is receiving the recognition for their dedication to our clients, as well as their brilliant skills in web development, mobile applications and custom software,” said Matt Bernhardt, CEO of Stickboy Creative. “We truly believe that providing a valuable service to our customer begins with creating an atmosphere where employees are genuinely happy and excited about where they work and what they do.”

A special thank you goes out to GrowFL for the honor and recognition! We are so excited to be selected as one of the Top Florida Companies to Watch and send our warmest congratulations to the other nominees.We would like to also thank our entire team for their hard work, dedication and contribution to our ever-growing company, Stickboy Creative! And last but certainly not least, we would like to thank our wonderful clients for being so amazing to work with.